I like Mike K. But my response to his Note on status symbols was my addition:
“Not caring about status symbols.”
Also, I’ve seen a few of these “New Status Symbols” posts across town. And I’ve noticed that, ironically, the author always seems to check a lot of their own boxes.
A better, more accurate way to do it may be to simply say: “things I like.”
I love this paragraph 'But I don’t see any specific thing like a “meeting-free calendar” and think this person is “free”, “absolved”, or “in-control”. Because I have no idea what that feeling means to them. Anyone who thinks otherwise is projecting what they think it would mean to them. I’m unprepared to draw conclusions from such observations.'
The thing to keep in mind about status is that it is fundamentally a signaling mechanism. If you are thinking about others - "other-regarding" [0] - then you are thinking about signaling. And then you are thinking in status games. This is not necessarily a problem: as you mentioned, communication, signaling and status games are inevitable. It's part of being a human. But if you let it dominate your existence - i.e. you are constantly paying attention to "what others think of me" - then you are completely missing out on perhaps the most important thing of all: "What do I think about it?"
I like Mike K. But my response to his Note on status symbols was my addition:
“Not caring about status symbols.”
Also, I’ve seen a few of these “New Status Symbols” posts across town. And I’ve noticed that, ironically, the author always seems to check a lot of their own boxes.
A better, more accurate way to do it may be to simply say: “things I like.”
I love this paragraph 'But I don’t see any specific thing like a “meeting-free calendar” and think this person is “free”, “absolved”, or “in-control”. Because I have no idea what that feeling means to them. Anyone who thinks otherwise is projecting what they think it would mean to them. I’m unprepared to draw conclusions from such observations.'
Your reference to honor reminded me of a short article I wrote all the way back in 2013: "Does modern society have place for honour anymore?"
https://alexpetralia.com/2013/11/01/where-did-honour-go/
And here's another one in the genre (which perhaps you read already, but it's worth mentioning in the "lit review"): https://danco.substack.com/p/social-capital-in-silicon-valley
The thing to keep in mind about status is that it is fundamentally a signaling mechanism. If you are thinking about others - "other-regarding" [0] - then you are thinking about signaling. And then you are thinking in status games. This is not necessarily a problem: as you mentioned, communication, signaling and status games are inevitable. It's part of being a human. But if you let it dominate your existence - i.e. you are constantly paying attention to "what others think of me" - then you are completely missing out on perhaps the most important thing of all: "What do I think about it?"
[0] https://www.epsilontheory.com/sheep-logic/
As someone who looks forward to Mondays, I really appreciate this quote of yours: Nobody is “arrived”. You’re always en route.
Great post, thanks!